1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a falling body viscometer which measures the falling speed of a falling body falling inside a measured substance in a measuring container and measures the falling speed of the measured substance from the measurement value, and more particularly, a technique of determining the falling state of the falling body.
2. Background Art
For example, Patent Literature 1 has a configuration in which a substantially needle-like falling body is dropped into a tubular measuring container, which is particularly designed to measure the viscosity of blood. More specifically, a pair of electromagnetic induction sensors which are vertically separated from each other are attached to a tubular measuring container. The time from the time point when receiving a detecting signal for the substantially needle-like falling body from the upper electromagnetic induction sensor to the time point when receiving a detecting signal for the substantially needle-like falling body from the lower electromagnetic induction sensor is measured. Then, a falling termination speed is detected based on the time and the distance between the upper and lower electromagnetic induction sensors.
Further, as disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, the “falling termination speed” indicates a falling speed when the falling body falls uniformly inside the fluid. The speed obtained by the electromagnetic induction sensor is regarded as the “falling termination speed”, and the viscosity is calculated by using the falling termination speed.
With the assumption that the falling speed of the falling body reaches the falling termination speed (in which the falling body falls uniformly inside the fluid), the viscosity of the liquid as the measuring target is calculated.